The 5G mobile communications standard offers faster, mobile Internet and thus also new possibilities for the so-called Internet of Things (IoT). An application for a 5G network for crisis and emergency scenarios is now to be developed and tested. The Technical University of Lübeck, Dräger Safetythe University of Luebeckand AKQUINET involved.
That from Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) The “O5G-N-IoT” project, funded with 2.2 million euros, runs from April 2022 until March 2025. The aim is to set up and test run a private 5G network with connected IoT technology for possible crisis regions – in which mobile phone networks and WLAN have failed. “The CoSA competence center is responsible for the development, systematic construction and evaluation of the 5G campus network for emergency and rescue operations. This means that emergency services can either use their own portable 5G infrastructure, enter an existing infrastructure and use it, or use a mixed operation of both options,” says the head of the CoSA competence center at Lübeck University of Applied Sciences. “The Ahr Valley catastrophe showed us all how important it is that emergency and rescue services communicate with each other securely and stably in such situations, so that they can act quickly and in a targeted manner,” says Andreas Färber, head of the project partner AKQUINET.
Until now, rescue workers have relied on public sector communication technologies such as TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio), LTE and other proprietary solutions. These solutions are closed and some of them do not meet all the requirements placed on today’s emergency operations. 5G technology, on the other hand, ensures secure and delay-free transmission of data. In the “O5G-N-IoT” project, the project partners want to equip various devices and aids for rescue operations such as gas and temperature measuring devices, helmet cameras or vehicles with 5G-capable sensors that should automatically transmit their data to the closed 5G network. In this way, an up-to-date and detailed picture of the situation is to be created on the basis of the live data and location data in the control center of the rescue operation. This IoT approach is to be expanded to such an extent that a so-called “digital twin” – i.e. a digital image of the situation and the rescue services deployed there – is set up.
The infrastructure must be very robust and remotely maintainable
In the project, AKQUINET is responsible for setting up the necessary mobile infrastructure, such as an emergency power generator, a diesel engine, the servers, cabling and antennas. The entire technology should be housed in a larger trailer. Andreas Färber explains the challenge: “The technology does not run in a secure data center here. So it has to be very robust and trouble-free, even under poor environmental conditions. In addition, we plan that it will be operated by rescue workers who are not familiar with IT. The infrastructure must therefore be very easy to operate and remotely maintainable for us.” Based on this basic infrastructure, the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences will set up the open-source 5G network. As a further project partner, Dräger will equip the devices and vehicles that can be used in such a crisis scenario with sensors and make them 5G-capable beforehand. The University of Lübeck is responsible for the quality assurance of the project. “The project is so valuable because the 5G technology is not intended to improve business processes here, but is to be used for a possible crisis region so that we can better help local people,” says Andreas Färber.
To the project profile of the BMWK: Digital Technologies – O5G-N-IoT (digitale-technologies.de)