Page 65 - European Energy Innovation - spring 2018 publication

Spring 2018 European Energy Innovation 65
end solutions that optimise energy
production can be used for smart
energy monitoring and for the
creation of new services that integrate
renewable energy sources and allow
better management of available
resources.
The rise of IoT platforms leads to
new data-driven business models
that allow building comprehensive
solutions across multiple services
ranging from home comfort, heating
and automation, car charging and
smart appliances. The user will benefit
from enhanced customer services and
flexible energy prices and will assume
an active role in the energy market.
The 5G technology will improve the
connectivity of smart grids through
easy transfer of high volumes of data
and reliable communication with low
latency.
FROM REMOTE SURGERIES TO
AUTOMATED DRIVING
The 5G technology will enable the
industry to accelerate intelligent
automation – sometimes referred
to as Industry 4.0 – through smart
production processes based on
robots, sensors and machine-to-
machine communication.
5G is also expected to give rise to new
dynamic processes that rely on an
ultra-reliable communication network
that is optimised to process a high
volume of data with a minimal delay.
Automated driving and remote surgery
are examples of such processes. They
rely on time critical operations and
ultra-reliable machine communication
that can process fast critical requests. In the anechoic chamber of the
“In order for self-driving cars, for
instance, to be a reliable transport
option in the future, the car needs
to respond very quickly to various
situations on the road. It needs to
detect pedestrians and other cars
immediately, and there can be no
margin of error. The computer system
managing the driving cannot crash
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and it has to rely on a communication
system which is flawless”, Bishop
explains.
To understand the implications
on future policies, the European
Commission is studying various
aspects linked to autonomous driving,
from cybersecurity to interoperability we had to create the conditions that
aspects. Cybersecurity – secure
exchange of data via wireless networks created this testbed which imitates a
– is one of the key aspects to be
guaranteed before any large scale 5G
implementation is initiated.
TESTING, TESTING…
Scientists at the JRC consider
technology readiness to be one of the
key enabling aspects – but also one of
the biggest challenges – for moving
the 5G mobile networks “from hype
to ripe”. And in order to be able to
demonstrate the readiness of these
technologies, more testing, research
and 5G pilots are still needed.
In the Ispra-based radio spectrum
laboratory, researchers have created
experiments which simulate 5G
signals to analyse options for the
optimisation of bandwidth, the
coexistence of different types of
wireless networks and interferences
to the network caused by various
disturbances.
spectrum lab, a device transmits a
video to a computer screen sitting on
5G COMMUNICATIONS
the other side of the room via an ad
hoc 5G wireless connection. Spectrum
monitors track various parameters
linked to the quality of the transmitted
data.
“Before we were able to start testing
the behaviour of 5G connections,
are identical to a 5G network, so we
wireless 5G network. It allows us to
run different kinds of experiments
and to test, for instance, the impact
of available bandwidth to the quality
of the transmitted data”, said Jaime
Ferragut, JRC expert on wireless
communications.
The scientists are also looking at
spectrum efficiency and spectrum
sharing techniques, which would
allow different players to share the
available spectrum and bandwidth of
5G networks. Spectrum availability has
a central role in the EU’s 5G strategy.
Sharing spectrum among various users
will not only allow the finite spectrum
bands to be used more efficiently,
but it can also create business
opportunities for smaller telecom
businesses that cannot afford massive
investments in spectrum licences, thus
leading to more competitiveness and
better telecom services for users.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the race to 5G is accelerating
worldwide, the Commission’s