The fifth generation of mobile communication networks (5G) is foreseen to be a key enabling technology for the fourth stage of the industrial revolution, commonly termed as “Industry 4.0”. Future Smart Factories envisioned in that context will leverage Industry 4.0 and 5G technology to increase flexibility and efficiency of the manufacturing processes, thus ensuring global competitiveness of industrial manufacturing. While 5G technologies such as network slicing may accommodate industrial applications in public networks, Private 5G Networks, operating locally and highly optimized towards specific applications, are a disruptive emerging approach to meet the specific demands of industrial use cases. Building on the premise of Private 5G Networks, the 5G CONNI project aims at providing an integrated end-to-end 5G test and demonstration network for industrial applications, leveraging current results from standardization and related research projects. Major contributions of the project consist in the definition of new Private 5G Network architectures and operator models, measurements and tools for application specific network planning, tuning and monitoring and the development of innovative new technologies and enabling components in the context of URLLC radio communication, mobile edge computing, core network design and joint optimization of these components. The project will set up two interconnected industrial trial sites in manufacturing facilities in both, Europe and Taiwan. At these sites, selected use cases will be realized and integrated into an end-to-end industrial Private 5G Network demonstrator. This will be used for technology verification and a thorough KPI analysis. The project results will be reflected back into the relevant standardization bodies and industry fora and used as an input for regulatory institutions in both Europe and Taiwan in order to shape the requirements for the operation of private networks.

Abstract: 5G-DIVE targets end-to-end 5G trials aimed at proving the technical merits and business value proposition of 5G technologies in two vertical pilots, namely (i) Industry 4.0 and (ii) Autonomous Drone Scout. These trials will put in action a bespoke end-to-end 5G design tailored to the requirements of the applications targeted in each vertical pilot, such as digital twinning and drone fleet navigation applications. 5G-DIVE’s bespoke design is built around two main pillars, namely (1) end-to-end 5G connectivity including 5G New Radio, Crosshaul transport and 5G Core, and (2) distributed edge and fog computing integrating intelligence located closely to the user. The latter pillar extends significantly beyond the EU- TW-Phase-I 5G-CORAL solution framework by adding support for automation based on artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technologies. The targeted intelligent tailored design is envisioned to achieve optimized performance and thus boost significantly the business value proposition of 5G in each targeted vertical application. 5G-DIVE trials target pilots running for several weeks on the premises of the vertical applications in real-life testbeds in Europe and Taiwan, leveraging noticeably the European 5G end- to-end facilities from ICT-17 call and Taiwan’s testbed facilities.

The 5G-CORAL project leverages on the pervasiveness of edge and fog computing in the Radio Access Network (RAN) to create a unique opportunity for access convergence. This is envisioned by the means of an integrated and virtualised networking and computing solution where virtualised functions, context-aware services, and user and third-party applications are blended together to offer enhanced connectivity and better quality of experience. The proposed solution contemplates two major building blocks, namely (i) the Edge and Fog computing System (EFS) subsuming all the edge and fog computing substrate offered as a shared hosting environment for virtualised functions, services, and applications; and (ii) the Orchestration and Control System (OCS) responsible for managing and controlling the EFS, including its interworking with other (non-EFS) domains (e.g., transport and core networks, distant clouds, etc.). Through the 5G-CORAL solution, several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be achieved, notably an ultra-low end-to-end latency in the order of milliseconds. Moreover, new business prospects arise with new stakeholders in the value chain, notably small players owning computing and networking assets in the local service area, such as in shopping malls, airports, trains and cars. These environments will be used to validate the system in three complementary end-to-end large-scale testbeds in Taiwan, supporting innovative applications such as augmented reality, car safety, and IoT gateway.

The primary objective of Do CHANGE is to develop a health ecosystem for integrated disease management of citizens with high blood pressure and patients with ischemic heart disease or heart failure. The system will give them access to a set of personalized health services in a near real-time fashion. This disruptive system will incorporate behavior change methods, such as “Do Something Different”, in conjunction with new innovative wearable/portable tools that can scan nature and volume of food and fluid intake, monitor behavior and clinical parameters in normal living situations. The objectives will be achieved by empowering patients with (1) tools and services, made available on smartphone or tablet and (2) the full control over the personal data they share with carers. To that extend a cyclic co-design methodology with end-users and health care professionals will be followed during the entire project. At the same time innovative end-user tools, including (1) a smart spatula for salt measurement, (2) a new artifact for fluid measurement and (3) a wearable food scan micro-spectrometer device, will be tested, (re-)designed and evaluated with patients and health professionals in Spain, NL and Taiwan. In view of the better balanced patient-care relationship, the traditional e-health telemonitoring will be enhanced with end-to-end trust assured transactions, secure storage, and ethical analytics of personal health data, making the patient an genuine stakeholder in his own cure processes and the ethical integration point of his own data. The proposal will be highly relevant to PCH 26 (ii): citizens’ life-style, socio-cultural values are continuously taken into account and a new range of mHealth tools is developed including a disruptive one from Taiwan. By providing concrete behavioral alternatives the new system will help patients to adhere to medical recommendations. Patient engagement and sanitized data logistics are to lead to significant health cost reductions.