Summer 2020 – Page 2 – Eurescom GmbH

Everything you always wanted to know about 5G network slicing

The SliceNet project outcomes webinar series

Over a period of four months, from February to May 2020, Horizon 2020 project SliceNet organised a series of seven webinars to present its outcomes and achievements in the area of 5G network slicing. The webinars proved to be quite popular, given their technical nature – they constantly attracted between 30 and 60 participants. Moreover, the questions asked in the Q&A part of each webinar showed the substantial interest of participants in 5G network slicing and the results of SliceNet. The good news for those who missed the webinars is that they were all recorded.

Webinar 1:
5G Multi-Domain Slice Control Plane

In the first webinar, Ciriaco Angelo from Ericsson R&D presented requirements and challenges of the 5G multi-domain slice control plane, the SliceNet Approach to design and prototyping, technical achievements and innovations in the area of slicing, and applications in vertical use cases.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/plyopOq437Y

Webinar 2:
Cognitive, Service-Level QoE Management

In this webinar, Kenneth Nagin from IBM Israel explained how SliceNet’s Cognition Sub-Plane enables 5G network slice management using machine learning to identify problems and policy driven remedial actuations to fix problems. He described the role played by the sub-plane addressing slice management within the three SliceNet use cases, namely Smart Grid, eHealth, and Smart City. The webinar presented the objectives, requirements and challenges for the cognitive sub-plane, the technical approaches for design and prototyping as well as technical achievements in QoE management. A summary of SliceNet innovations in the area of cognitive QoE management concluded the presentation.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/mMTzCxLL0-c

Webinar 3:
5G Multi-domain Slice Management

This webinar was particularly aimed at developers in vertical industries and those interested in the design of 5G applications enabled by 5G multi-domain slice management. Thuy Truong from DellEMC started by giving an introduction to 5G multi-domain slice management, and then continued to discuss the requirements and challenges of 5G multi-domain slice management. She went on to explain the technical approach for design and prototyping and then discussed vertical applications and QoE management innovations.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/skyQds_QXAM

Webinar 4:
SliceNet System Architecture

This webinar was aimed at developers and designers both in vertical industries and research interested in SliceNet’s 5G system architecture for multi-domain slicing. Marius Iordache from Orange Romania started by giving an introduction to the SliceNet System Architecture, and then discussed the requirements and challenges, particularly the vertical requirements that had to be identified and considered in the architecture. He went on to explain architecture design and functional decomposition as well as SliceNet’s end-to-end slicing friendly reference architecture. He concluded by presenting selected vertical use cases.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/CmDVhT73tSo

Webinar 5:
Cross-Plane Orchestration and Use Cases Prototyping

This webinar was aimed at developers and designers both in vertical industries and research, interested in 5G system architecture and orchestration. Jose Cabaca from Altice Labs discussed, how the SliceNet definition of Business Roles relateds to the definition of Business Roles by ITU-T. He went on to explain the SliceNet Architecture and Orchestration Plane, including particular challenges and requirements. He then focused on the DSP end-to-end service and slice orchestration as well as on the NSP network orchestration. In the last part of the webinar he explained orchestration journeys and provided a summary of innovations.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/deKSGoHMxJ0

Webinar 6:
System Integration and Demonstration

This webinar was aimed at developers and designers both in vertical industries and research, interested in 5G system integration and frameworks. Georgios Tsiouris from OTE presented the system integration and demonstration achievements of SliceNet. After discussing requirements and challenges, he explained SliceNet’s technical approach to system integration and the SliceNet framework validation. He concluded by presenting selected use-case demonstrations.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/bgJWevMbYKQ

Webinar 7:
5G Integrated Multi Domain Slicing Friendly Infrastructure

This webinar was aimed at developers and designers both in vertical industries and research, interested in 5G slicing infrastructure. Navid Nikaein from EURECOM explained SliceNet’s technical approach for design and prototyping of a 5G integrated multi-domain slicing-friendly infrastructure, highlighting the technical achievements and major innovations. He concluded by showing selected vertical applications.

Video recording – https://youtu.be/IMTMX-my3Lk

Further information
SliceNet project website – https://slicenet.eu

Digital technologies take top spot in European patent applications

Patent statistics published by the European Patent Office (EPO) in March 2020 show that for the first time in more than a decade digital technologies have taken the lead in patent applications filed. According to the EPO Patent Index 2019, the surge in the fields of digital communication and computer technology is fuelling the sustained growth in patent filings: In 2019, the EPO received well over 181,000 applications in total, 4% more than in 2018 and a new all-time high. Patent applications in digital communication grew by 9.6% , driven by technologies crucial to 5G wireless networks. Digital communication overtook medical technology (+0.9% ), which had been the most patent-active technology since 2006.

With an increase of 64.6% , Chinese companies contributed most to the growth in digital communication patent applications, with US (+14.6% ) and South Korean firms (+36.1% , albeit from a smaller base) following suit. By comparison, filings from Europe grew moderately (+3.1% ). In terms of share, China, the US and Europe are now the joint leaders, each accounting for roughly a quarter of all patent applications filed with the EPO in this field. The top three applicants in 2019 were Huawei, Ericsson and Qualcomm.

The second fastest-growing field at the EPO in 2019 was computer technology (+10.2% ). Here the driving factor for growth was the increase in patent applications related to artificial intelligence, especially in the areas of machine learning and pattern recognition, image data processing and generation, and data retrieval.

US companies (+13.6% compared to 2018) accounted for nearly 40% of all patent applications in computer technology, followed by EPO member states (+9.3% ) with almost 30% of the total. Applications from China (+18.7%) made up just over 10% . The leading applicants in 2019 were Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Samsung, Huawei, Intel and Siemens. A significant proportion of the growth in 2019 also came from smaller applicants, and from new players.

Other technical fields with solid growth at the EPO in 2019 were: transport (+6.6% compared to 2018), which includes the automotive sector; electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (+5.5% ), where many inventions for clean energy technologies are filed; and pharmaceuticals (+4.4%). European companies held the largest share of patent applications in transport, measurement, organic fine chemistry and “other special machines” – an area covering a range of technologies including machine tools for various industries and 3D printing.

The technology trends were also reflected in the country data. The top five countries of origin for applications in 2019 were the US, accounting for 25% of total filings, followed by Germany (15%), Japan (12%), China (7%) and France (6%). The increase in applications at the EPO in 2019 was mainly fuelled by the strong increase in filing volumes from China (+29.2% ), the US (+5.5% ) and South Korea (+14.1%). In the past decade, patent filings from China with the EPO have increased nearly sixfold (12,247 applications in 2019 versus 2,061 in 2010). In 2019, the general upward trend in filings continued from nearly every major industrial region. Patent applications from the 38 EPO countries grew modestly (+1.1%) in 2019, the third year of increase. In relative terms, the share of patent applications from Europe continued to slide, however, falling from 51% in 2009 to 45% in 2019, as more players from outside Europe, and especially Asia, seek to protect their inventions in the European market.

Patent applications coming from the EPO member states developed stably overall, with most firms filing more patent applications than in 2018. Sweden (+8.0%) was the growth champion, boosted by increases in applications related to digital communication and computer technology. Patent filings from the UK (+6.9%) and Switzerland (+3.6%) continued to increase significantly, too, while filings from Italy advanced by +1.2% . After two consecutive years of growth the number of patent applications coming from Europe’s top filing country, Germany, remained stable (+0.5%), while France (-2.9%) and the Netherlands (-2.6%) saw decreases last year. The drop in patent filings from France was due to fewer applications in fields such as digital communication and automotive, while in the Netherlands, lower numbers of applications were filed in a number of sectors, including medical technology and biotechnology.

Among the European economies with mid-range patenting volumes, applications from Spain (+6.0%) grew solidly. Belgium (+3.2%), Austria (+2.6%), and Denmark (+0.8%) achieved similar filing levels to 2018, while patent applications from Finland fell further (-1.4%). There were also significant increases from countries with smaller patenting volumes, such as Ireland (+6.3%) and Norway (+3.6%). Portugal (+23.1%) and Greece (+15.8%) also both saw their third year of consecutive growth, albeit from a smaller base.

The company ranking also reflects the rapidly growing importance of digital technologies. Huawei topped the table of patent applicants at the EPO in 2019 with 3 524 applications. Samsung moved up to second place and LG gained a position to take third. The two South Korean firms were followed by US company United Technologies and the top applicant of 2018, Siemens at No.5. Sony is Japan’s highest ranking applicant (jumping from 11th to 9th), while Ericsson (moving up to 7th), Philips and Bosch ensure that European companies account for the majority of the applicants in the ranking: The top 10 includes four companies from Europe, two from South Korea, two from the US, and one from each of China and Japan.

A breakdown of applications originating from European countries shows that 72% of them were filed by large companies, 18% by small and medium-sized enterprises and individual inventors, and 10% by universities and public research organisations. This confirms that a significant proportion of EPO applicants are smaller entities.

Further information
EPO Patent Index 2019 – www.epo.org/patent-index2019
EPO press release – https://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2020/20200312.html

Clueless users and tricky surroundings

Online meetings from the home office

Milon Gupta
Eurescom
gupta(at)eurescom.eu

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way office workers work. One of the major changes for many of them has been that they are no longer office workers but home office workers. Instead of having daily in-person meetings, they were forced to have online meetings. Apart from, at least temporarily, changing the communication culture in a number of organisations, the sudden move from physical to virtual meeting brought about a number of unwanted side effects.

There are two factors contributing to the unwanted side effects of online meetings from the home office: user experience, or rather inexperience, and the different environment. In most cases, these two factors reinforce each other. If this sounds too abstract, let us have a look at a few examples for each factor.

Clueless users

Let me start with some personal experiences from recent online meetings of European research projects in the ICT domain. You would expect technology-savvy researchers from the ICT field, who have had hundreds of online meetings already before the coronavirus lockdown, to be proficient in the use of web-conferencing systems. While this may be true for the majority of them, there is at least one ignorant participant in every call who creates minor or major disruptions.

My experience in ICT project calls is that most participants switch off their webcams, unlike users in most other domains. While this certainly reduces already one channel for unwanted side effects, it still leaves audio. And that can be really disruptive. Like the participant in one of my online project meetings who received a call on his mobile phone. The reason I know this is that his microphone was not muted, and I heard every word he was saying – unfortunately I could not hear the official speaker in the meeting anymore, as his audio volume was a bit low. Appeals to the ignorant talker to close his mic were of no avail – he was fully absorbed in his other conversation, which seemed to be much more interesting than our online meeting. Remember that this is an example from a group of experienced users. It is getting more interesting, if you add inexperience. The following examples are second-hand, but I believe they are true.

Let us stick to the audio channel for this one. BBC News quotes Neil Henderson from Zurich Insurance, who had a call with a client, who was obviously in the bath, as he could hear splashing and the tap running. When the client realised that the microphone was on, the phone slipped into the bath. Then he (the client, not Mr Henderson) jumped out of the bath to get another phone, slid and fell.

If you think this little audio drama was exciting, remember that video offers many more creative opportunities for clueless users to entertain their less creative peers. One example I remember from a recent online project meeting was a participant, who seemed to be oblivious that the webcam was on. He stood up and came back with a sandwich, which he slowly ate in a disgusting manner. It does not sound so bad when you read it, but it was quite disturbing to watch.

Even more unsettling was a woman from the US, who did something really embarrassing in a video conference call – she accidentally left her camera on while going to the toilet, watched in disbelief by her stunned colleagues. How do I know about this? The video went viral on Twitter.

Let us now have a look at the other factor, the environment in the home office.

Tricky surroundings

Already at the office you can have numerous audio-visual distractions that could affect your online meeting. However, even a noisy office environment is like the cave of a reclusive Zen monk in comparison to the audio-visual horrors that many home office environments generate. The worst I personally experienced was an inconsolably crying baby at the home office of a female participant who had not muted her mic.

On the visual side there are reports about life partners visibly passing by at the back of the room – completely naked! Even for those who enjoy the occasional diversion within the hours of looking at boring slides and faces, it may affect focus and productivity – not to speak of the embarrassment of the person in whose home the diversion happens. And while most humans in a household can be educated to display socially responsible behaviour when the webcam is on, there are also cats and dogs that have been reported to interfere with online meetings by making noises or jumping in front of the camera.

In conclusion, I see two paths for the evolution of online meetings at the home office. Scenario one: home office workers update their skills and design their surroundings and technical setup to get closer to an office environment. Scenario two: neither user behaviour nor home office surroundings significantly improve. Instead, the tolerance of online meeting participants will increase the more predictable disruptions like naked spouses and farting dogs become. Time will tell which scenario will dominate.

© AdobeStock

Let’s invent together a smarter and safer world

It is more than ever time to invest in ICT

Valérie Blavette
Orange
blavette(at)celticnext.eu

I hope all readers of CELTIC News are well. My feeling is that going through a pandemic changes us and makes us think differently. It makes us understand what is crucial and what is only nice to have. We also learn that we can adapt, do things differently and fast. Not only AI will pave the way for a smarter world, even if for sure AI will play an important role there.

Despite all difficulties, most of us have still been able to telework and communicate thanks to digital tools, telecom networks and the cloud.

AI, telecom and IT tools have proved to be critical assets

First of all we can be proud of our telecom and IT assets. As an example, the dimensioning of networks allowed the unusual traffic peaks during the first weeks of the crisis. Working for the research of a big telecom operator, Orange, I am proud of my colleagues in the operational units and of all the working forces which allowed the continuity of services of the critical infrastructures.

Most importantly, the telecom infrastructures connected the hospitals and the businesses during that strained period. What would have been our daily life during the social distancing measures and home office without the telecom infrastructure? Without the digital applications? Without news from the remote family, talking to friends, allowing grandparents to see the younger ones, exchanging and getting information, making online food shopping? As a mother, I also appreciated that my children could do their lessons online, even if it is not always easy for a ten-year-old boy to organize his daily screen time around math, English and geography instead of using it for Fortnite, FIFA or “The Legend of Zelda”.

When I helped our au pair to get her first online medical teleconsultation from home, I thought of the CELTIC eHealth projects HIPERMED and E3, which created novel solutions for teleconsultation and telesurgery.

Some results from other CELTIC projects have also been very valuable, like VIRTUOSE, which created solutions for multi-party video communication and video analysis, area management and security. Or the UNICRINF project, which developed novel solutions for improving emergency communication.

Continuous support by the CELTIC Office

At the time I wrote this article, the CELTIC office was busy as always supporting proposers and CELTIC projects at any stage. For running projects online reviews have been organized. A first joint call between the CELTIC and the EUROGIA communities has been organized during the first trimester of this year. On 31st of March the CELTIC office has held a successful AI proposer’s webinar with a large audience – around 200 registered participants from 24 countries, many of them joining from home.

EUREKA Clusters AI call

At a time when the COVID-19 crisis has created more solidarity, more connections, even if we needed to be physically distant, the Clusters CELTIC-NEXT, EUROGIA, ITEA, PENTA and EURIPIDES2 have been cooperating more than ever to define the first EUREKA Clusters AI call.

When defining this first common call, the EUREKA Clusters have learnt a lot on how to streamline processes and make it easier for both applicants and Public Authorities. In particular a single online project submission tool for all participating Clusters has been defined and set up. We proved collectively agile, and I would like to thank the inter-Cluster colleagues for their cooperation in this new adventure.

Conclusion

Going back to the Coronavirus crisis, I hope we will be collectively able to heed all the lessons learned. No doubt our ICT infrastructures, digital tools and the use of AI at different levels have saved many lives since the beginning of the year. Some Asian countries especially reacted very fast, showing us images of what we so far thought was sci-fi. Thanks to Big Data, IA, and global collaboration, the research helped a lot to react as fast as possible to limit the damages caused by the pandemic.

That is why, even if the European and worldwide economy will need some time to recover, I am convinced it is more than ever time to invest in ICT. Research should be as fast as possible, to fight such a pandemic or to invent a smarter, safer world. That is what CELTIC and EUREKA should be after in the coming months.

Photo: © Adobe Stock

Smart connected world meets clean energy

Joint CELTIC Eurogia Proposers Day in Madrid

Christiane Reinsch
CELTIC Office
reinsch(at)celticnext.eu

On 29th January, the first joint CELTIC and EUROGIA Proposers Day took place at Nokia Bell Labs in Madrid. The registered participants from both Cluster communities came together to discuss new projects ideas for ICT-based end-to-end solutions in different vertical sectors (CELTIC) and green energy technologies (EUROGIA). Experts presented new insights on recent technological developments in Artificial Intelligence and information on funding opportunities. Proposers presented twelve new project ideas in a pitching session. The Proposers Day stimulated new project proposals on disruptive technologies in the areas of ICT and energy, which were submitted in the Joint CELTIC Eurogia Call that closed in spring.

The event was opened by the CEO of Nokia Spain, Mr Ignacio Gallego, and Mr Álvaro Villegas from Nokia Bell Labs, Spain. Welcome addresses were given by Ms Juana Sanchez from CDTI, Mr Pierre Besse from EUROGIA, and Mr Jari Lehmusvuori, CELTIC Vice-Chair and head of department at Nokia Bell Labs in Finland, who also moderated the event.

Mr Diego Lopez from Telefonica gave an inspiring keynote on AI with the title “Building the Golden Closed Loop – AI and Networking”. He explained that the key issues of AI are not so much the AI engine but the data used to feed it and the resulting action flows – the most intelligent AI engine will only be as good as the data used to analyse.

Pierre Besse, Vice-President of EUROGIA and Peter Herrmann, CELTIC Office director presented how easy it is to submit a project to the Joint Call. Both presented the eligible subjects of their respective Cluster and explained the requirements for a successful project proposal and how the online submission tool can be accessed. In addition, they explained the evaluation process for proposals by technical experts and Public Authorities.

Audience of the Proposers Day at Nokia Bell Labs in Madrid

Panel of funding bodies

An important part of the Proposers Day was the panel of the funding bodies from Spain, Canada and Luxembourg.

Ms Juana Sanchez from CDTI in Spain explained the CDTI bottom-up approach that is well aligned with the philosophy of EUREKA Clusters. She also explained how the application process for public funding via the open CDTI call works. She recommended that proposers should not forget to check the funding availability for each partner in each country involved in a proposal.

Mr Kasturi Narayanan from the National Research Council of Canada presented his organisation’s Industrial Research Assistance Program. This program addresses SMEs with up to 500 employees operating in Canada. The main objective is to generate growth of companies through innovation. Mr Alexander Link explained the EUREKA Perspective program for companies in Luxembourg. This program addresses small and large companies. He explained the key steps for obtaining public funding in the context of EUREKA Calls and gave his recommendations on what companies have to do, to receive public funding.

Business panel session

Ms Maria Luisa Arranz from Nokia, coordinator of CELTIC project UNICRINF, talked about the achievements of the project and about the live emergency demonstration which was shown at the Port of Valencia before the CELTIC Event in June 2019 (see UNCRINF article in CELTIC News 2/2019 and video of the demo at youtu.be/b2wFQ6eB6Zo).

Mr Oscar Chabrera Villarreal from Vilynx, Spain presented the SME-led CELTIC project E3 and two other CELTIC projects that have helped ViLynx to get into the AI and video business. Today ViLynx is growing and is also active in the US. The project also allowed the consortium to learn about the needs of the healthcare sector, as four hospitals and one medical institution were participating.

Mr Jari Lehmusvuori from Nokia Bell Labs, Finland presented the CELTIC flagship project SENDATE that addressed secure networking for a data center cloud in Europe. It brought together about 80 partners in four countries, and it had a budget of €70m. Among the highlights are several world records, like the world’s first 100 Gb/s safe quantum transport over 2,800 km and the world’s first aggregation and reception of 400 Gb/s super-channel with a single photodiode. The project also developed an architecture for the different data center types, the first security architecture ever. It established an open ecosystem for open source software projects, too. Thanks to SENDATE, European suppliers are back in the business of data centers.

Ms Sophie Theys from Bureau Veritas reported about the benefits of being a member of the Eurogia Board, which is active in building and participating in an industry ecosystem of strategic importance to Bureau Veritas. She also illustrated the impacts of the Eurogia projects, such as CO2FieldLab, to develop new innovative services, such as new standards for the assessment of CO2 sequestration sites on society and the environment.

Ms Hülya Akınç from Enerjisa explained her company’s active participation in EUROGIA. She showed how Enerjisa gets benefits by proposing projects to the Eurogia ecosystem in order to develop innovative products and services strategic to Enerjisa. She illustrated this impact by describing the EnergyNext project for the asset management of distribution lines through the country using drones, which considerably improves energy efficiency and costs of maintenance services.

Panel participants (from left): Jari Lehmusvuori from Nokia (Finland), Oscar Chabrera from Vilynx (Spain),
Sophie Theys from Bureau Veritas (France), Hülya Akınç from Enerjisa (Turkey), Maria Luisa Arranz from Nokia (Spain),
and moderator Pierre Besse from EUROGIA

Project idea pitches

Another core element of the Proposers Day was the pitching of project ideas. 12 proposers presented their ideas on a wide range of ICT and energy topics. The presentations led to productive discussions, which were moderated by Christiane Reinsch from the CELTIC Office.

The discussions were continued in the weeks after the Proposers Day via the CELTIC Consortium Building Web Sessions, which led to the formation of new project consortia.

Highly interactive session on project idea pitches

ReICOvAir

Reliable Industrial Communication Over the Air

Thomas Heyn
Fraunhofer IIS, Erlangen, Germany
Thomas.heyn(at)iis.fraunhofer.de

The motivation for the ReICOvAir project is the vision to enable the widespread usage of wireless communication systems in industrial environments. This was achieved by creating an innovative verification method as well as initial testing systems relying on this method in order to qualify the reliability of various wireless communication systems.

ReICOvAir concentrated on the fact that there is no common way of measuring the quality of wireless communication systems in industrial scenarios. The purpose of ReICOvAir was to provide the required methods and testbeds to carry out a quality assessment of wireless communication systems in industrial environments.

Approach

The prerequisites to recreate RF signal propagation characteristics from industrial environments in the lab are two-fold. Firstly, a valid parameter database for the propagation channel conditions in industrial environments has to be established. Secondly, a channel model supporting the relevant use cases in the factory also needs to be in place. Therefore, great care was taken planning the QuaDRiGa channel model update and the required propagation measurements in industrial environments.

Based on the updated QuaDRiGa channel model, software simulation and hardware emulation environments were designed and implemented. They allow non-expert users to apply the sophisticated channel model to simulations, as well as RF-transmissions, and real devices via a hardware channel emulator and a data traffic emulator (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: ReICOvAir test concept

Achieved results

The project’s main achievement is providing the key enabling factors in order to prove the reliability of wireless transmission systems in industrial environments.

In a first step, the propagation parameters of industrial environments were characterised via extensive measurement campaigns at 2.4 and 5.3 GHz in live production sites in Finland and Germany (see Figure 2). The measurement results highlight the differences compared to the formerly used channel model for office indoor environments. This is the initial step for a realistic recreation of an industrial propagation environment in the lab.

In a second step, the necessary tools for practical use were developed. The core of these tools is the enhancement of the QuaDRiGa channel model that now supports simultaneous movement of transmitter and receiver. Additionally, it provides the expected correlation in reception conditions of two collocated devices. With regard to the predecessor model, by incorporating the sum-of-sinusoids method into the model, a reduction of the required processing effort was achieved making the system much more manageable for high numbers of users and large areas.

The channel model supports detailed software simulations as well as hardware emulations. These two approaches provide proof-of-concept solutions for testing services, allowing the qualification of an ideal software model, assuming no implementation losses, as well as the testing of real devices. This achieves the vision of “bringing the factory into the lab”.

To make the results valuable for the industry, the QuaDRIGa channel model was released as open source, thus building trust by allowing independent in-depth analysis of the model.

The project has so far generated various publications and contributed to national (VDI, DKE) and international standardization bodies (5G-ACIA, IEC, 3GPP).

Figure 2: Measurement site at Siemens, Germany

Conclusion and outlook

The state-of-the-art QuaDRiGa channel model was enhanced to enable the realistic simulation of radio wave propagation within industrial environments. The major enhancements are: obtaining a set of propagation parameters for industrial environments, the support of a fully mobile system, where transmitter and receiver can move at the same time, as well as the establishment of a simulation and emulation lab testbed. Based on these results, it is now possible to simulate the wireless communication behaviour of an entire factory and apply this behaviour to real devices. Great care was taken to disseminate the results and provide the findings to standardization bodies such as 3GPP.

The project results advanced the required testing of wireless communication, as realistic assessment of the behaviour of wireless transmission systems such as 5G, both in standardization and in the industrial sector for specific use cases, now becomes possible. Ultimately, the results of the project will enhance the industrial sector’s confidence in relying more on wireless transmission systems and will lead to a change in the design of future factories.

› Further information

› ReICOvAir project page – www.celticnext.eu/project-reicovair

H-OPTO

Reducing the Investment Uncertainty for Optical Access Networks

Ian Cooper                                Per Odling
BT plc                       Lund University
ian.r2.cooper(at)bt.com                  per.odling(at)eit.lth.se

Stefan Carlsson                                      Robert Johansson
Stokab                                                  Telia Company
Stefan.Carlsson(at)stokab.se             r

Peter Elisson
Nexans Sweden AB
Peter.Elisson(at)nexans.com

The Celtic Next project H-OPTO aimed at establishing best practices and creating new knowledge in the installation, operation and maintenance of optical access networks. Until recently, most of the research effort on optical networks has mainly focussed on increasing capacities and developing new optical components. Less research has gone into analysing the overall deployment costs and the operations and maintenance costs. H-OPTO has focused on these costs with the ambition to build up practical knowledge and stay ahead of industry needs when deploying and operating such networks. While optical access networks are currently still far from ubiquitous, deployments are rapidly increasing. As these networks grow and start to age, quality and operation issues become progressively important. It is this network rollout and operational holistic view that H-OPTO brings to the world of optical fibre access.

The project set out to answer some specific questions such as: “How do optical networks age?” and “How do we transform network maintenance into a data-driven business?” These questions have largely been answered by the project. Cost savings in network maintenance have been achieved both for the optical access network and for fibre-fed commercial indoor wireless networks. The combination of optics and wireless expertise within the project has led to some notable results, including a new business model for one of the project partners, which significantly reduces both costs and the environmental impact for in-building mobile distribution. The project also had two successful forward-looking innovation strands, one looking at the techno-economics of optical access deployment (eventually this model will add 5G transport cost analysis capability) and the other looking at methods to secure a disturbance-free Wi-fi in-door environment.

On the optics side, the project has brought together the main actors in Sweden, bringing with them their experience and expertise they have gained in deploying optical fibre networks throughout the country. Almost every home, even in rural areas, now has a fibre connection in Sweden. This expertise was combined with that from the Polish optics industry that maintains a global position in the production and testing of optical components. From the UK, BT added experts on optics, networks and techno-economics. And partners from Turkey and Sweden added further proficiency in the area of in-door wireless solutions including international standards experience. The success of this project is a direct result of the competence and engagement of all the participating partners. Figure 1 shows the deployment of fibre and fibre cable by Telia from 1985 until 2019 throughout Sweden.

Cables, connectors and ducts were extensively examined during the H-OPTO project, with the aim of identifying the significant reasons for network faults, which were extracted from fault logs using data mining techniques.

Fibre and fibre cable deployment in Sweden

Summary of the estimated aging of optical component results

Cables used during the past 25 years have not undergone any significant degradation. Cable lifetime is mostly dependent upon cable size (i.e. fibre count) and if a cable has needed to be replaced due to under-capacity. Problems noted for old cables have been related to material compatibility, which is now prevented by implemented aging tests in the qualification test programme.

Connectors are generally a weak point and cause problems for customers when high quality components are not used. However, aging has not been found to be an issue. Problems are most likely to arise due to poor fibre cleaning methods used by technicians.

Ducts: cost-wise the ducts are the most important component in a network, as re-trenching should be avoided whenever possible. Internal friction increases over time after a cable has been installed inside a duct, which can make removing cables and installing further cables difficult. However, this friction has been found to be reversible with the correct cleaning and lubrication techniques.

Conclusion and outlook

H-OPTO has been a driver in creating a new forum for technical discussions involving several different network owners in Sweden. Telia and other partners in the project have shared experience, data and quality requirements. This Swedish cooperation is expected to continue in the future, which will be beneficial for everybody connected to a fibre network within the Swedish market. In addition, other parts of the project have developed analytical cost models, investigated future network architectures based upon white-box hardware and open source software, in-home wireless interference mitigation techniques and developed remote headend mobile distribution equipment. The H-OPTO project will be continuing under the Celtic-Next banner with additional partners under the name A5gard.

› Further information

› H-OPTO project page – www.celticnext.eu/project-h-opto/

CELTIC results used by medVC to fight COVID-19

HIPERMED-based telemedicine service STOP-CORONA

Sometimes it takes a few years until you see the full benefits of research results. CELTIC project HIPERMED is a perfect example. When it ended in 2013, nobody would have thought that seven years later its results would contribute to a telemedicine solution which is used in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that is exactly what has happened, due to the work of medVC, a Polish SME located in Poznań. MedVC has already connected 35 Polish hospitals with patients at home via its free video service STOP-CORONA, in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

More hospitals in Europe will follow. There are already inquiries for using STOP-CORONA from hospitals in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. MedVC is expecting also demand from hospitals in Central European countries and beyond.

The STOP-CORONA service

STOP-CORONA is an easy-to-use patient-to-hospital video communication service, which is offered by medVC free of charge to hospitals around the world. “We want to help by giving all hospitals the possibility to unblock their telephone lines, reduce the need for ambulances to go to patients, and stop patients from overcrowding the emergency rooms,” explained Piotr Pawałowski, CEO of medVC.

The service enables each hospital that registers to let its doctors see the patients using videoconferencing. The main benefit of the STOP-CORONA system is to keep the patients at home by allowing them to have audio-visual contact with the hospital. The doctor not only hears, but, above all, sees the patient. In this way doctors can initially assess the patients’ health status. Patients stay at home, not spreading the virus.

The system is intuitive and very easy to use. The patient only has to press the link on the hospital’s website to enter the system’s virtual waiting room. The solution is browser-based and uses WebRTC. Thus, no other software needs to be installed, which makes the system easy to use for less technically inclined and elderly patients. MedVC ensures that the STOP-CORONA system is secure and encrypted, and no data is being recorded.

Background on medVC

MedVC goes back to a group of engineers from the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center, Poland (PSNC), who founded the company in 2014. They had participated in the award-winning CELTIC project “HIPERMED – High Performance Telemedicine Platform” and its successor project “E3 – E-health services Everywhere and for Everybody”. Using CELTIC project results as a basis, medVC developed a commercial remote collaboration tool for medical professionals, which allows real-time audio-visual communication.

› Further information

› STOP-CORONA system by medVC –
https://stop-corona.medvc.eu

› HIPERMED project page –
https://www.celticnext.eu/project-hipermed/

› E3 project page –
https://www.celticnext.eu/project-e3/

The SliceNet project outcomes webinar series

Webinar 1: 5G Multi-Domain Slice Control Plane

Webinar 2: Cognitive, Service-Level QoE Management

Webinar 3: 5G Multi-domain Slice Management

Webinar 4: SliceNet System Architecture

Webinar 5: Cross-Plane Orchestration and Use Cases Prototyping

Webinar 6: System Integration and Demonstration

Webinar 7: 5G Integrated Multi Domain Slicing Friendly Infrastructure

Clueless users and tricky surroundings

Online meetings from the home office

Clueless users

Tricky surroundings

It is more than ever time to invest in ICT

AI, telecom and IT tools have proved to be critical assets

Continuous support by the CELTIC ­Office

EUREKA Clusters AI call

Conclusion

Joint CELTIC Eurogia Proposers Day in Madrid

Panel of funding bodies

Business panel session

Project idea pitches

Reliable Industrial Communication Over the Air

Approach

Achieved results

Conclusion and outlook

› Further information

Reducing the Investment Uncertainty for Optical Access Networks

Summary of the estimated aging of ­optical component results

Conclusion and outlook

› Further information

HIPERMED-based telemedicine service STOP-CORONA

The STOP-CORONA service

Background on medVC

› Further information

Webinar 1:
5G Multi-Domain Slice Control Plane

Webinar 2:
Cognitive, Service-Level QoE Management

Webinar 3:
5G Multi-domain Slice Management

Webinar 4:
SliceNet System Architecture

Webinar 5:
Cross-Plane Orchestration and Use Cases Prototyping

Webinar 6:
System Integration and Demonstration

Webinar 7:
5G Integrated Multi Domain Slicing Friendly Infrastructure

Continuous support by the CELTIC Office

Summary of the estimated aging of optical component results