Newsflash February 2021
Latest 5G top news
 |
New 5G IA Members and Call for Membership for ‘Smart Networks and Services’ Association |
|
 At its latest meeting on 3 February 2021, the Governing Board of the 5G Infrastructure Association (5G IA) approved 4 new Full Members:
As the Horizon 2020 framework programme comes to an end and the new Horizon Europe framework programme launches, the 5G IA, as the private side representative of the 5G PPP, is preparing for the evolution of the 5G activities into the Smart Networks and Services contex, which will set the foundations for 6G. Information is available at https://5g-ia.eu/sns-horizon-europe/. An ‘Open Letter’ from the Chairman of the Governing Board of the 5G IA, with an invitation to organisations (including Associations) and enterprises to join the new initiative, is available here. Existing 5G IA Members will automatically retain membership of the evolved 5G IA, which will manage from the private side the Smart Network and Services partnership. |
||
|
Europe puts forward a proposal for Joint Undertaking on Smart Networks and Services towards 6G |
|
| The European Commission has adopted its legislative proposal for a strategic European partnership on Smart Networks and Services as a Joint Undertaking, with a public Research & Innovation investment of 900 million EUR over the new long-term budget period 2021-2027. The Joint Undertaking will coordinate research activities on 6G technology under Horizon Europe as well as 5G deployment initiatives under the Connecting Europe Facility Digital and other programmes.
The proposal for the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking adopted by the Commission today is part of the Single Basic Act establishing the set of nine Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe. The proposal will now be discussed among Member States in the Council with a planned launch in autumn this year. For more information visit the European Commission website. |
||
|
Phase 3.1 Key Achievements |
|
Phase 3.1 Key Achievements from the 5G PPP include over 100 highlighted results from projects in Phase 3 under 20 program level achievements. In continuation of the 5G PPP Phase 2 “Key Achievements”, and the recent list of “Key achievements v3.0”, the list now presents an updated catalog, i.e., “Key achievements v 3.1” considering the latest accomplishments of the 5G PPP Phase 3.4 “5G Long Term Evolution” projects and additional breakthroughs of some of Phase 3.3 “Advanced 5G Validation trials across multiple vertical industries” projects. In total, more than 100 achievements have been reported that have been grouped in 11 different categories: 1-Performance Evaluation, 2-Cellular systems, Functional, Logical & Physical Architecture 3-Radio Access Network 4-Fronthaul, Backhaul and MetroHaul, 5-Technology Enablers 6-Network Management and Orchestration of services 7-Software Networks 8-Security, Privacy, Resilience 9-Services Platforms and Programming Tools NetApps 10-Verticals Experimentation, Trials and Pilots 10.1- Industry 4.0 10.2- Agriculture and agrifood 10.3- Automotive 10.4- Transport and Logistics 10.5 Smart Cities and Utilities 10.6- Public safety 10.7- Smart(air)Ports 10.8-Energy 10.9- eHealth & Wellness 10.10- Media & Entertainment, Tourism and 11- Business, Standardization and Regulation. As this version is based on version 3.0, key achievements from phase II projects (all of them completed by the end of 2020) have been kept in list but marked in red in the following figure so to provide a better understanding of the areas Phase 3 is currently covering. Compared to the previous version, the new list of key achievements v3.1 illustrates that the introduction of ICT-20 projects has further pushed the research activities in all technological domains. This is to be expected as the 5G PPP Phases and the related pre-structuring model have been designed in such a way to allow the promotion of 5G in verticals and at the same time the further investigation of topics related to the evolution of 5G. Find additional details on phase 3.1 Key Achievements here.
|
||
|
EIB study “Accelerating the 5G transition in Europe: how to boost investments in transformative 5G solutions” |
|
| This study discusses with “the fifth generation” of telecommunication systems, or 5G, how its roll-out will be one of the most critical building blocks of the European digital economy and society in the next decade. The transformative properties of these technologies were examined. How Europe can remain a relevant, competitive, and strategically autonomous player on the global scene was also explored. The study was mentioned during the European 5G conference.
The study has been prepared by the European Investment Bank for the DG CONNECT of the European Commission. 5G IA was consulted for the study. The document is available here.
|
||
|
Key findings from the European 5G conference |
|
 The European 5G conference was held online on 23-25 February 2021. High-level personalities participated.
Pearse O’Donohue, Director for Future Networks in the European Commission, DG CONNECT, said “there has been progress” in the EU on 5G “but not enough” based on goals defined in the 5G Action Plan back in 2016. He also mentions that the European Commission is currently working on a new Action Plan, to be presented soon. Peter Stuckmann, Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems at the European Commission, did not disclose any details on the Action Plan v2 but insisted on goals, which “have been useful”. He also expects the next goals to be again on spectrum assignments, especially on high bands, on deployment of small cells, and on vertical industries. In Session 3, Dr. Colin Willcock, 5G IA Chairman of the Board, has assessed progress made since 2015 when the 5G PPP Research Partnership was initiated. He mentioned that 62 R&I projects have been launched so far, enabling more than 800 contributions to standardisation activities, over 1,300 scientific publications (Phases II and III) and over 180 key achievements (More than 10 in Phase 1, 60 in Phase 2, more than 100 in phase 3 https://5g-ppp.eu/key-achievements-v3/, https://5g-ppp.eu/key-achievements-v3-1/). Alongside Bernard Barani, Deputy Head of Unit, Future Connectivity Systems at the European Commission, he also mentioned that “As the Horizon 2020 framework programme comes to an end and the new Horizon Europe framework programme launches, the 5G IA, as the industrial partner of the 5G PPP, is preparing for the evolution of the 5G activities into the Smart Networks and Services contex within the Horizon Europe framework programme”. The new “networks and services” package will lay the foundation of 6G in Europe. It has been earmarked for 900 million EUR of public funding (for 1.8 billion EUR of PPP funding in total) over the 2021-2027 budget period. Harald Gruber, Head of the Digital Economy division at the Projects Directorate of the European Investment Bank (EIB) stated that the required investments to reach the build-out targets as agreed by European policymakers amounted to 384 billion EUR until 2025 (of which 126 billion EUR for the Digital Agenda for Europe, 65 billion EUR for 5G connectivity and 94 billion EUR for rural connectivity). He also acknowledged that investment requirements were very high – EIB’s total loan amounted to 2,965 billion EUR while investments reached 8.6 billion EUR – but that resources could be made available with appropriate financial instruments. Teresa Czerwińska, Vice President at the EIB mentioned a report urging on a major funding increase to help SMEs, new entrants in virtualised and disaggregated value chains and to secure positions of leading European stakeholders (Nokia and Ericsson). This major theme of homegrown infrastructure and services, under the banner of digital sovereignty and green industrial change, was of course in everybody’s mind. |
||
|
White Paper on “Edge Computing for 5G Networks” |
|
| The 5G PPP Initiative and the 5GIA are happy to present a new white paper entitled “Edge Computing for 5G Networks”. This white paper provides a) a brief introduction to the Edge computing concept, b) an exhaustive technology review focusing on virtualisation, orchestration, network control, and operational frameworks, c) a discussion about the role of security, and d) an analysis of several business aspects around the Edge ecosystem.
Moreover, the white paper provides an in-depth analysis of Edge solutions that have been selected, deployed, and validated by 17 different EU funded 5G PPP projects. You can download the White Paper here. |
||
|
5G PPP Webinar: New 5G Core Technologies Innovation Projects |
|
|
On February 16, the 5G Core Technologies Innovation webinar took place with the aim to present the 8 new 5G Core Technologies projects (COREnect, 5G-LOGINNOV, 5G-RECORDS, Affordable5G, 5GMETA, DRAGON, FUDGE-5G and Int5Gent) joining the 5G PPP to accelerate innovation in the development and take-up of 5G. All of the projects were selected for funding under the 5G PPP ICT-42-2020 call: 5G-PPP 5G Core Technologies innovation. These new projects started in the second half of 2020. The projects presented their programmes with a short introduction from the European Commission and the 5G IA. Over 300 people registered for this event and the participation peaked at 150 simultaneous participants. On the COREnect side, prof. Gerhard Fettweis explained the COREnect project and the problem of technological sovereignty in 5G and beyond, the project objectives, provide details on the project partners. The project methodology and the COREnect interactions with other communities were also covered. Irene Alepuz, project manager deputy of the 5G-RECORDS project, presented the overview of the 5G-RECORDS project, highlighting the main goals, key enablers and requirements for each one of the three 5G-RECORDS use cases: live audio production, multiple camera wireless studio and live immersive media content production. You can download and read all the presentations here. |
||
|
5G RECORDS – Webinar on 5G content production on IEEE BTS Pulse |
|
5G RECORDS (5G key technology enableRs for Emerging media COntent pRoDuction Services) held a webinar on 5G content production on 11 February @IEEE BTS Pulse. 5G RECORDS aims at exploring the opportunities which new 5G technology components bring to the professional audiovisual content production, including Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE). Three use cases will be demonstrated in the project: live audio production, a multi-camera wireless studio and live immersive media production. The session explored the opportunities and challenges of 5G for the professional audio-visual content production industry. The session started with a presentation of the activities led by the European Broadcasting Union on 5G content production, which has successfully engaged in 3GPP Release-17 5G standardization. It continued with presentations from Ericsson and Nokia about key 5G technology enablers for professional content production, such as network slicing for guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS), Non-Public Networks, millimetre wave frequencies, edge and cloud computing, etc. The on-going technical work in 5G-RECORDS to enable the three use cases was presented, and the session concluded with an open panel discussion.
|
||
|
INSPIRE-5Gplus presentation at ETSI ISG ZSM plenary meeting |
|
| INSPIRE-5Gplus partner Telefonica I+D participated in the ETSI ISG ZSM (Zero touch network & Service Management) plenary meeting ZSM#14-e on 11th January 2021. In the session, TID had the opportunity to share with the ZSM delegates the vision of the INSPIRE-5GPlus project, including objectives, architecture and use cases.
The strong alignment of the INSPIRE-5GPlus system with ZSM architecture principles and services opens up new standardization opportunities, based on a closed collaboration between INSPIRE-5GPlus and ETSI ISG ZSM. Examples of opportunities that were discussed during and after the meeting include contributions to existing security related work items (ZSM-010) or the creation of new ones, focused on the multi-dimensional security management aspects that are being developed in the INSPIRE-5GPlus project.
|
||
|
5GZORRO: AI-driven Zero-touch Operations, Security and Trust in Multioperator 5G Networks |
|
| On February 5, 2021 Consortium partners Alexis Lekidis, Intracom-Telecom; Paulo Chainho, Altis Labs, and Gino Carrozzo, Nextworks gave a 5GZORRO project presentation during the 5G PPP Architecture WG telco meeting.
The 5G Architecture Working Group as part of the 5G Public Private Partnership (5G PPP) Initiative, focuses on the 3rd stage of 5G evolution, and it is looking at capturing novel trends and key technological enablers for the realization of the 5G architecture. It is also targeting, in a harmonized way, the architectural concepts developed in various projects and initiatives, not limited only to 5G PPP projects, to provide a consolidated view on the technical directions for the architecture design in the 5G era. The 5GZORRO presentation received great interest and the final congratulations from WG members. The project raised many expectations regarding the implementation part; which is now in its ongoing stages.
|
||
|
5G-SMART webinar: “5G TSN deployment model and time synchronization aspects” |
|
 On January 29, the 5G-SMART project, led by Ericsson, organized a webinar on “5G TSN deployment model and time synchronization aspects” with Joachim Sachs (Ericsson) and Daniel Philip Venmani (Orange) as presenters.
The webinar presented how 5G can be deployed together with TSN for industrial automation, by looking into specific manufacturing use cases. These include advanced industrial robotics controlled from the cloud, communication between industrial controllers, the centralized control of an AGV fleet, and adaptive production based on real-time monitoring of the production process. Further, 5G time synchronization deployment aspects were presented.
|
||
|
1st 5G EVE Learn and Drive |
|
 The 1st 5G Eve Learn and Drive event took place on January 26 with the aim for SMEs and start-ups to get to know 5G EVE and to understand how to profit from testing and training opportunities as well as leverage 5G EVE’s physical resources and technical materials.
The two-hour Learn and Drive event showed how to get exposure, virtually meet, and get essential information to develop potential collaborations with some of the major industrial players in the 5G Ecosystem. Also, SMEs got the chance to discuss potential use cases and future collaborations in direct contact with key European industry players after the event. |
||
|
EU to set up new European Partnerships and invest nearly 10 billion EUR for the green and digital transition |
|
| In February 2021, the Commission proposed to set up 10 new European Partnerships between the European Union, Member States and/or the industry. The goal is to speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, and to make European industry more resilient and competitive. The EU will provide nearly 10 billion EUR of funding that the partners will match with at least an equivalent amount of investment. This combined contribution is expected to mobilise additional investments in support of the transitions, and create long-term positive impacts on employment, the environment and society.
The proposed Institutionalised European Partnerships aim to improve EU preparedness and response to infectious diseases, develop efficient low-carbon aircraft for clean aviation, support the use of renewable biological raw materials in energy production, ensure European leadership in digital technologies and infrastructures, and make rail transport more competitive. The European Partnerships are approaches provided by Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027). More information about these Partnerships here. |
||
Source: 5G Technology Enablers for Content Production – Part I, Thorsten Lohmar, Ericsson and 5G RECORDS
|
Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks 2021 |
|
|
Online event – March 1-4
For enabling and accelerating the large-scale rollout of 5G-based IoT solutions in a wide range of vertical sectors, large-scale validation trials are an important step. The workshop aims to gather the results of such validation trials for 5G-based IoT solutions in Europe and beyond. In addition to presenting the technological progress and insights gained from these validation trials, the workshop will also foster a multidisciplinary discussion between industry and academia, ICT providers and verticals as well as between the 5G and the IoT research communities. This productive exchange is expected to lead to an identification of existing R&D challenges and new insights on how to address them. The workshop is organized in cooperation with the 5G EVE, 5G-VINNI, and 5GENESIS projects. The workshop specifically invites papers on relevant validation trials performed by verticals on the large-scale experimental platforms provided (i.e. 5G infrastructure projects of the 5G PPP or other projects or activities). Papers on validation trials for 5G-based IoT solutions performed in other experimental environments are equally welcome. More information about this event here.
|
||
|
5G-Tours eHealth webinars |
|
|
Online events – March 4
Webinar 1 scheduled at 10:00-10:45 CET is on “Remote health monitoring and emergency services powered by 5G”. Presenters are Vera Stavroulaki and Nelly Giannopoulou (Wings ICT Solutions, Greece). The webinar will display solutions for remote health monitoring of people, especially when already diagnosed with a critical disease still compatible with home care (e.g. some form of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, etc.). The main features offered, utilising the Wings STARLIT platform, include: (a) real-time remote health monitoring services of main vital signs, and (b) quick, reliable notifications to users, family members and health care professionals in case of a health incident or a health emergency prediction. The webinar will also shortly showcase how, when an emergency has been identified, optimal ambulance routing is triggered to navigate the ambulance through areas with 5G coverage to ensure the provision of medical help on the go as well as timely patient transfer. Registration is available by clicking on the link : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/remote-health-monitoring-and-emergency-services-powered-by-5g-tickets-141972077305
Webinar 2 scheduled at 11:00-11:45 CET is on “Hospital powered by 5G”. Presenters are Mathieu Lagrange, Laurent Launay (b<>com, France), Guillaume Campion (AMA, France), and Nelly Besnard (University Hospital Center from Rennes, France). From the standardisations topics related to both 5G and DICOM, the webinar will then go through the explanation of the UC8 architecture and features of 5G-Tours Project, showing related KPI and metrics. Registration is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hospital-powered-by-5g-tickets-142019140071
|
||
|
5G PPP Webinar: 5G Innovations for Verticals |
|
|
Online event – March 5
The webinar was held in two parts, where four projects will present in the first part and 5 in the second part, with a short introduction from the European Commission and the 5G IA to start. These projects were selected for funding under the 5G-PPP ICT-41-2020 call: 5G-PPP 5G innovations for verticals with third-party services. Please read the agenda and register here.
|
||
|
3rd Towards Terahertz Communications Workshop |
|
|
Online event – March 12
Go and check the preliminary Agenda here and stay tuned!
|
||
|
5G Expo Virtual 2021 |
|
|
Online event – March 20
The online conference is perfect for those technology professionals making investment and strategy decisions, or building and executing pioneering projects within their organisation. The event will consist of live and on-demand from over 40 speakers sharing their unparalleled industry knowledge and real-life experiences in the forms of solo presentations, expert panel discussions and in-depth fireside chats. Register for free here.
|
||
|
Hannover Messe 2021 |
|
|
Hannover, Germany – April 12-16
Additional information on 5G PPP presence will come soon.
|
||
|
W4: 5G-enabled safety and support services for cooperative, connected and automated mobility |
|
|
Helsinki, Finland – April 25
The aim of the workshop is to exploit these opportunities from several perspectives. First, the workshop distributes the latest results assessing the suitability of the currently standardised 5G functionalities in a variety of CCAM scenarios. Second, the workshop discusses the gaps identified in the existing 5G capabilities when it comes to the heterogeneous requirements, stemming from these scenarios, and offers new technological solutions to fill the identified gaps. Third, the workshop considers novel services and concepts that 5G networks would enable to improve the safety and performance of CCAM. The workshop is organised by the EU Horizon 2020 5G-HEART and Celtic-Next 5G-SAFE-Plus projects. More information about the event here. |
||
|
2021 IEEE 93rd Vehicular Technology Conference |
|
|
Helsinki, Finland – April 25-28
IEEE VTC2021-Spring will feature world-class plenary speakers, tutorials, technical as well as application sessions, and an innovative Industry Track, which will feature panels and presentations with industry leaders sharing their perspectives on the latest technologies. More information about the event here.
|
||
|
6GSymposium Europe – Shaping Industry & Society Beyond 5G |
|
|
Online event – May 4
The 6GSymposium will explore the key questions around what 6G offers industry and society and how to get there. |
||
|
IEEE 5G Summit 2021 |
|
|
Dresden, Germany – May 5
More information about the event and registration here. |
||
|
EuCNC & 6G Summit 2021 |
|
|
Online event – June 8-11
This conference is one of the most prominent communications and networking conferences in Europe, which efficiently brings together cutting-edge research and world-renown industries and businesses. The conference will focus on various aspects of 5G communications systems and networks, including cloud and virtualisation solutions, management technologies, and vertical application areas. It will target to bring together researchers from all over the world to present the latest research results, and it is one of the main venues for demonstrating the results of research projects, especially from successive European R&D programmes co-financed by the European Commission. |
||
|
MWC Barcelona 2021 |
|
|
Barcelona, Spain – June 28 – July 1
Additional information on 5G PPP presence will come soon.
|
||
5G-TOURS organises two morning webinars on March 4, 2021.
The preliminary agenda for the 3rd Towards Terahertz Communications Workshop has been released. The workshop’s topics will cover the latest EU project results, future challenges and industrial perspective on THz comms and UC3M will present TERAWAY project innovations and advances towards beyond-5G.
The 5G Expo Virtual, 30th March 2021 (GMT) is a FREE virtual event and conference consisting of top-level content and thought leadership discussions exploring the world of 5G. The 5G Expo Virtual will provide insight and strategies for technology decision makers seeking to explore and evaluate thought-leadership topics and valuable strategies to drive businesses forward.
The next 
Safety and support services running on top of 5G network infrastructures have a great opportunity to facilitate cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM) for automotive and transport verticals in a variety of road conditions and operational environments. As the rollouts of commercial 5G networks continue all over the world, the increasing coverage and continuously evolving capabilities of the technology make it an ideal connectivity platform for a variety of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication scenarios. Critical network-based services enhancing the road traffic safety are able to exploit the ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) services offered by 5G. Other non-critical support services can rely on enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) services provided by 5G networks and facilitate the operation of the intelligent road transport systems as well as the comfort and wellbeing of the drivers and passengers.
The 2021 IEEE 93rd Vehicular Technology Conference: VTC2021-Spring will be held in Helsinki, Finland, 25 – 28 April 2021. This semi-annual flagship conference of IEEE Vehicular Technology Society will bring together individuals from academia, government, and industry to discuss and exchange ideas in the fields of wireless, mobile, and vehicular technology.
By 2030 and the dawn of commercial 6G the world’s climate aspirations, population, economy and work will have changed. If we are to deliver a smart, connected world that can meet the many demands on it, we need to start with all the stakeholders in the room and grow a complete set of viable solutions and business cases, not just a technology.
IEEE 5G++ Summit Dresden has become a well-known annual high-impact event that brings together industry leaders, innovators, and researchers from industry and academia to exchange ideas that will help to drive standards and rapid deployment of 5G++ technologies. It takes a holistic approach to 5G system design, ranging from silicon hardware, wireless interfaces, networks, edge clouds all the way up to Tactile Internet applications.
EuCNC 2021 is the 30th edition of a successful series of a conference in the field of telecommunications, sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and the European Association for Signal Processing, and supported by the European Commission. EuCNC 2021 intends to introduce 6G.
The next MWC is scheduled from June 28 to July 1, 2021. The 2021 lead theme is “Connected Impact” as a reference to the virus.The editor of the 5G PPP newsflash on behalf of the Full5G Project is Carole Manero, IDATE DigiWorld, CS94167 – 34092 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. This document reflects -only the views of its authors.
