5G communication networks will provide differentiated services to various sectors of society (vertical ecosystems), meeting the multiple requirements launched by the ITU-T for the 5th generation of cellular communications. 5G will reach maturity in 2025 and become part of the public (operator networks) and private (dedicated networks) domains, while interconnecting several wired and wireless access networks. The communications infrastructure used by 5G will be characterised by a strong programmability, using virtualisation technologies such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NFV).
Now that the commercial operation of 5G is beginning, there is significant expectation and interest among the communications and digital sectors. Previous generations of mobile communications focused mainly on the consumer market – Business-to-Consumer (B2C), while 5G features make it directly applicable to other sectors (e.g., industry), replacing traditional technologies such as the Ethernet.
The 5Go project was a mobilising initiative launched in January 2018, at a moment when commercial 5G networks were not operational yet. The project is closely associated with the ongoing global innovation in the field of telecommunications and was launched on the ideal date to maximise the development capacity of the national industry in this field. The project involved the most dynamic national companies in advanced telecommunications products and services (Altice Labs, Nokia, EFACEC, Altran and Wavecom), supported by several SMEs (Ubiwhere, OneSource, ITCenter and PDMFC), universities and research institutes (INESC TEC, Institute of Telecommunications and University of Coimbra), and the platform TICE.PT, towards promoting the collective and complementary development of different products.
The project's strategic objectives were defined in 2016 during the 5G technology specification phase. The project was quite innovative at a global level since it promoted the development of technologies and services for the 5G network before its standardisation. The reason behind it was the need to keep the Portuguese industry's competitiveness and deep involvement in relevant communications technologies, in an increasingly global market facing a growing digitalisation. Together, the 5Go project partners aimed to improve their international competitiveness by entering the new ecosystem created by 5G networks, developing new systems, and exploring the advantages of the new technology. The improvement in competitiveness was achieved through the updating of telecommunications supplying, towards entering new telecommunications markets and strengthening current markets.
In addition to the economic goal, the 5Go project also focused on renewing the national capacity to get involved in advanced communications, which are increasingly becoming the backbone of society. By involving more than 140 professionals and training a large number of MSc and PhD scholars, the project also contributed to a relevant national core of competences in 5G technologies that will certainly be of great use to the country.
From a technological point of view, this led to the creation of services and products crucial to enter new markets, according to four main vectors:
1. a new line of products for the access networks, covering the radio and optical network, including end-user devices, terminal devices for critical communication environments, and test units for operators, boosting companies' business volume and promoting new Business-to-Business (B2B) opportunities.
2.5G network control components, in terms of policies and external interfaces, as well as solutions for managing new networks and services, taking advantage of the different areas of 5G, including security, monitoring and quality of service, and advancing business niches for SMEs companies in the new 5G ecosystem.
3. solutions for video applications, from personalised distribution to video surveillance, opening new markets for different companies
4. solutions for critical environments, enhancing the use of 5G technology in different vertical sectors, such as rail transportation and security solutions, strengthening the internationalisation capacity of these companies and allowing them to approach new markets.
Since this is a mobilising project, one of the main goals was the development of products that worked together. More specifically, the products developed for the access network are integrated with management, network control and security products. These products allow basic 5G technological support for vertical environments while enhancing the development and demonstration of 5G services and products in IoT fields (e.g., monitoring/control of distribution grids, railways, and vital signs), as well as products and 5G services for broadband multimedia transmission such as video distribution.
The products developed throughout the 42 months of the project, according to these four vectors, cover all the functional domains of the 5G networks, reflected in the project structure, which followed the functional vision illustrated in the following figure: i) products for the access network, ii) products for the core network and iii) products for the vertical sectors. The latter are further organised into two other subprojects, one focused on machine-machine communication and the other on human communication.
Given the ultimate ambition of developing commercial products and the relative initial immaturity of the technologies under development, the project also contributed to the establishment of an environment that fostered the acquisition of knowledge about the competitiveness of different products. All products developed in the project were integrated, tested, and demonstrated in an ecosystem in line with the goals of 5G technology, benefiting from a realistic test environment. This environment, fostered at the Institute of Telecommunications in Aveiro, allowed to benefit from synergies with existing test environments and boosted technology tests at the level of TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 7 and 8.
The project results were widely disseminated, namely thanks to two seminars organised in October 2019 (in person) and June 2021 (online webinar, available on the project's YouTube channel). Readers can also check the results on the project's website (5Go.pt) and on the social networks Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.