26 GHz trial projects include 5G for venues, lighting and transportation
French telecom regulator Arcep has approved the first eleven initiatives to trial 5G technology using the 26 GHz band, the regulator said in a statement.
In January 2019, the French government and Arcep had issued a joint call for the creation of 5G trial platforms that would be open to third parties using the 26 GHz band.
“The call for the creation of trial platforms has enabled more than ten projects to emerge. In addition to telecom industry players (mobile network operators, telecoms equipment suppliers), several projects are led by “verticals” or consortia that do not specialize in telecommunications,” Arcep said. “Some projects are focused on one area in particular: logistics (smart ports, multimodal transport management, traceability), smart city (smart buildings), mobility (in-station services for trains or passengers) or covering sporting events. Other projects have a broader target and plan on hosting any kind of innovative enterprise.”
The regulator said that these licences authorize them to use wide frequency bands for a period of up to three years. The players whose projects were selected must have an operational 5G trial network by 1 January 2021 at the latest, and make it available to third parties to perform their own 5G trials. They must also publish the terms and conditions for accessing the trial network, and provide Arcep with a detailed report on the trials conducted through the platform.
Some of the projects that have been selected include:
- Universcience, at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie–The La Cité des sciences et de l’industrie 5G trial platform will showcase innovative use cases to the public, during events and as part of temporary and permanent exhibits. This platform will also be open to the startup ecosystem, to test and share solutions develop for use in 5G.
- Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, at the Vélodrome National–Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines aims to create an open 5G trial platform for its National Velodrome, to rise to the challenges facing this future Olympic Games site. The region thus submitted a proposal in partnership with Nokia, Qualcomm, Airbus and France Television. Use cases will range from augmented reality replay of the different events, to applications enabled by progress in fixed and mobile audio and video equipment – including, for instance, to the use of artificial intelligence in sports media.
- Bordeaux Métropole–The aim of the 5G trial platform planned by Bordeaux Métropole is to capitalize on public lighting networks to deploy new infrastructures. Bordeaux Métropole, in partnership with the trial’s host operator, Bouygues Telecom, will manage a large ecosystem to develop as many use cases as possible.
- Le Grand Port Maritime du Havre–The Port of Le Havre has proposed a 5G trial platform that will enable it to explore and test 5G applications in a port and industry-related context. This includes applications in the field of energy, such as operating smart grids and recharging electric vehicles. Other applications will focus more on logistical operations in the port area, notably operating container terminals.
- Bouygues Telecom, for the Lyon Part-Dieu train station, in concert with SNCF–In the Lyon Part-Dieu train station, operator Bouygues Telecom wants to work in concert with France’s national rail company, SNCF, to test both consumer applications, for the very large number of travellers who pass through the station and for SNCF agents and the railway company’s information system (extracting large quantities of technical data from the trains at the platforms).
- Orange, for the Rennes railway station, in collaboration with SNCF and Nokia–The 5G trial platform hosted by the new train station in Rennes, which opened in July 2019, plans on testing both use cases for passengers and professional tools for SNCF agents. Different applications enabled by 5G hotspots have been envisioned, such as a service for virtually instantaneous film and TV programme downloads. For the development of professional tools, 5G would make it possible to design applications that require ultra high speeds (training in augmented reality, remote maintenance using augmented reality, processing massive volumes of train operating data).
